Opinions on Rowland 302 vs musical fidelity m8 700

Hi Chenglo, Here are some additional questions:

* what are your amp power requirements...
* What speakers are you using, and what is their sensitivity....
* What are the most important sound characteristics for you...
* What music do you listen to?
* Realistically, what is your budget ceiling?

Regards, Guido

Guido

My spkrs are Dynaudio Confidence C4. Sensitivity is 89 db with impedance at 4 ohms. If i recall correctly the recommended power is 400 watts. I would like to get an amp in the 300 watt rms or higher. I like the warmth of tube amps and hoping to hear more of it with the next amp be8ng paired with my ARC 5se. I listen to an extremely wide variety of music from classical to rock n roll to unplugged acoustic performances. Lately I've been listening to Chee Yun Kim, a korean violinist. My ceiling for budget is $8k on the used market. Monoblocks preferred but a really nice 2 channel would also be welcome. I don't want to replace again for another 10 years.

Hi Chenglo, in the $8K range I can think about two fabulous 400W amps for your Dynaudios....

* Rowland Continuum S2 integrated, $9500 new, will fall well within your target price on the used market. $8K new might be a little bit of a stretch, but might not be totally impossible. See Roy Gregory's review at:
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/jeff_rowland_continuum_s2.htm

* The Merrill Veritas Monos also deliver 400W per channel. They list for $12K, but might fall within your budget on the used market. See my own review:
http://positive-feedback.com/Issue68/merrill_audio.htm

The only problem of these amps is they will deny you the "joy" of replacing aging/burnt tubes. They have an approximately 95% efficiency. They both use up to date class D modules... Continuum S2 on Pascal M-Pro2, while Veritas uses the NCore NC1200 module. Both amps are extremely musical.

Regards, G.

M8 700 mono's on sale for $5995 pair Music Direct. Good amps for that money. Had them on Sasha, nice.